Presently, construction regulations across much of the country require that sidewalks, curbs, gutters, driveways, roads, and other infrastructure improvements be put into place in housing and commercial developments before the construction of the new houses and structures may begin. During the construction of the new houses and structures, however, these infrastructure improvements are typically subjected to a significant amount of construction-related traffic. The topical weight from this construction related traffic often exceeds vehicle weights of 10,000 pounds, or 5 tons, which can easily break or otherwise damage the surfaces of the infrastructure improvements. This damage creates a significant problem for the construction process, as it can increase the cost of construction and lower the value of the resulting homes and structures in the housing or commercial development. It may also create a negative environmental impact in the form of excess construction waste.
Rather than trying to protect these surfaces from damage, a standard practice in the industry is simply to allow the breakage and other damage to occur and then rebuild the damaged surfaces. Heretofore, this waste has been considered merely a cost of doing business in the industry. The construction industry has been forced to accept such a wasteful cost because, although some effort has been made to protect the surfaces to avoid damage, no acceptable solution was presented.
Some of the methods that have been used to address the problem include forming a mound of dirt over an area to be protected, placing stacked wood over the area, and bridging over the area with thick steel sheets (e.g., greater than one inch in thickness). But using materials that are intended for other purposes and are merely shoehorned into place rather than formed into a product for protecting the infrastructure improvement does not solve the problem because these approaches do not adequately distribute topical loads to avoid damage to a surface. Additionally, each of these approaches is unacceptable in for other reasons. For example, mounding dirt over the subject areas causes erosion and pollution problems, and the dirt can be hard to clean up once the construction is finished. Moreover, many governmental bodies restrict the placement of dirt and contaminants upon paved surfaces. Stacked wood causes a tripping problem and tends to move and splinter as traffic travels across it. The wood must also be placed and removed throughout the day to keep the area clear for pedestrian traffic. In addition, the wood does not cushion the impact of the passing weight, and it lacks flexural support at the edges of the subject material Steel sheets, because of their weight, are difficult to position and typically must be delivered and placed by a crane. Moreover, steel sheets often slip under weight or slam down on the subject areas to cause magnified pressure and damage to the concrete.
Another approach to the problem is to form the infrastructure improvement sufficiently strong to withstand the topical loads without additional protection. For example, a sidewalk may be formed from reinforced concrete. However, reinforced concrete is expensive and is typically reserved for foundation applications, not curbs and sidewalks and general infrastructures. Over-engineering an infrastructure surface to withstand topical loads during construction is thus inefficient.
Accordingly, there is a longstanding need for an effective, non-intrusive system that limits or completely eliminates damage and breakage that can occur to surfaces of infrastructure improvements during the construction process.